(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mill for grinding, for example, peppercorns or the like. It particularly relates to a hand held electrically operated, cordless mill and improvements therein.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Grinding mills of the aforementioned type are known and include that disclosed in Russell et al's U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,417 dated May 22, 1973.
A major drawback regarding the aforementioned patented mill and the others of the prior art, is that they do not permit a large range of grind fineness, and in the case of the aforementioned patented mill, requires its dismantling in order to make adjustment between grind sizes. This is not only inconvenient to the user, but requires many detachable parts which can become lost.
A further drawback regarding the prior art electric mill is that there is no intermittent action provided during the grinding action, affording user reaction time to gage the amount of ground pepper flowing from the mill. Furthermore, the functioning of the known mill, due to its utilizing a gravity type switch for its operation requires the constant inverting and righting of the mill, thus creating an undesirable mixture of ground and unground peppercorns in the mill. This is contrary to the purpose of a peppermill which is to provide fresh ground pepper.